A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews

Don’t fall away! Don’t Depart! Don’t neglect your salvation! Don’t cast away your confidence! Don’t harden your heart! Don’t drift away! AStudyOf TheApostlePaul’s LetterTo The Hebrews How can we neglect so greata salvation? ~ Hebrews 2:3

In our last installment, we began study-ing The Hall of Faith—Hebrews 11—wherein (according to 12:1-2) Paul pic-tured his Jewish-Christian readers as runners in a race within the confines of a coliseum; and within the stadium seats were all the faithful who had run the race before them, cheering them on to victory. Here’s the picture I see: 

I see all the faithful from Abel (11:4) to the fulfillment of the promise (11:39-40) as one team running against sin, as it were, but somewhat like a relay race; so, since the brethren Paul was writing to were on the verge of reaching the long-awaitedendofthis race,theywere winning for all who had gone before them. When we look at it this way… 

We can see all the more how tremen-dously important it was that these brethren keep pushing on—it wasn’t just for their salvation as individuals that they were running, but, in a sense, it was for each and every child of God before them … and after them! So… After having begun with Abel, Enoch, and Noah in verses 4-7, let’s continue our study with Abraham in 11:8:  

Hebrews 11:8  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, notknowingwhere he was going.

This actually means while he was being called, by faith he obeyed; i.e., Abra-ham was pictured here as packing up even as God spoke (Gen. 12:1-4). By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, notknowingwhere he was going.

This phrase is very important here be-cause it keeps our minds focused on the idea of the pro-mise (brought up in 10:36) and how that God has always kept His promises and blessed (rewarded) thosewhopersevere (11:1 & 6). By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, notknowingwhere he was going.

This is actually the most important part of this verse. See, Abe had no idea where he was head-ed or why God was putting him through this (v. 9), especially at his ripe age of 75; he just had faith in God and His pro-mises and obeyed. Likewise…    By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, notknowingwhere he was going.

These brethren who claimed and highly honored Abraham should imitate him: they may not under-stand exactly where they were headed at thispointor whyGod was putting them through this, but they should have faith in Him and His promises, remaining faithful to the end. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would afterward receive as an inheritance. And he went out, notknowingwhere he was going.

Hebrews 11:9-10    By faith he sojourn- ed (lived) in the land of promise as inaforeign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac & Jacob, the heirs with him of the same pro-mise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Although Abraham had arrived and was in the land of promise, his family lived there simply as strangers & pil-grims(v.13),dwell-ing in tents. But why? Well, there are two reasons:  By faith he sojourn- ed (lived) in the land of promise as inaforeign country,dwelling in tents with Isaac & Jacob, the heirs with him of the same pro-mise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

1.Physically speaking, the promise wouldn’t be literally fulfilled to Abra- ham, Isaac, and Jacob (cf. Acts 7:5a), but totheir descendants(Gen.22:17b); i.e., they had to wait until the sins of the Amorites had reached their limit with God (Gen. 15:13-16) before God would take the land from them and give it to Abraham’s descendants (cf. Jsh. 21:43-45). And…   

2.Spiritually speaking, it’s pretty obvi- ous that one reason God had them enter the land prematurely was to provide another example & to create another shadow to encourage those of Paul’s day; i.e., Abraham exempli- fied the faith they needed, and his life of trials and inconveniences pictured what they were having to endure while they likewise waited on God.

This literally means the city whose ar-chitect & builder is God. This is an un-mistakable refer-ence to that about which he had beenwriting all along—the coming king-dom & all its bless-ings, something he discussed more in the next chapter. By faith he sojourn- ed (lived) in the land of promise as inaforeign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac & Jacob, the heirs with him of the same pro-mise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

In 9:11 and 10:1 Paul spoke of all this as thegoodthings (about) to come. In 6:5 he wrote of theage (about) to come. Similarly… In 2:5 he wrote of theworld (about) to come. Whereas… In 13:14 he wrote of the city…(about) to come. And… In 12:28 he simply called it akingdom. Here are a few alternates:   

In 11:14 he called it a homeland. In 11:16 he called it a heavenly country. In 12:22 he called it the city of the liv-ing God and the heavenly Jerusalem. In 12:23 he called it the general assem-bly and the church of the firstborn. And corresponding more to 11:10… In 8:2 he called it the true tabernacle that the Lord erected, not man. And… In 9:11 he called it the perfect taber-nacle not made with hands. So…  

Although we have no clear record of it, Abraham was obviously made aware of this coming kingdom, a kingdom that was on the verge of being completed at the time Hebrews was written (cf. mello in the first 4 references above); and when the fullness of the kingdom arrived, then the spiritual side of the promises to Abe were finally and totally fulfilled (cf. Gal. 3:7-9 & 13-14).

Hebrews 11:11  ByfaithSarahher-self also received strength to con-ceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Although it doesn’t soundlikeittheway it reads here, I be-lievethe faith of this verse still has refer-ence to the faith of AbrahamnotSarah. {There are six reasons for this listed in the Power Pointprogram notation field below.}However…   ByfaithSarahher-self also received strength to con-ceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Either way this is in-terpreted, the main point remains the same:Paul’s readers neededtobelikeAbe and/or Sarah and judge Him faithful who promised! As withSarah,theyjust needed to surrender to God’s timing (the same thing that the folks of 2 Pet. 3:4 & 9 needed to do). ByfaithSarahher-self also received strength to con-ceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

Hebrews 11:12  Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in mul-titude—innumer-able as the sand which is by the seashore.

According to the literal language, there’s indeed very little doubt that this phrase refers to Abraham’s repro-ductive abilities as being … shall we say … unresponsive. In fact…    Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in mul-titude—innumer-able as the sand which is by the seashore.

InRomans4:19Paul said that Abe, not being weak in faith, didn’t [stop to] con-sider his own body, [though it was] al-ready dead(since he was about 100years old).*So…    Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born as many as the stars of the sky in mul-titude—innumer-able as the sand which is by the seashore. *For an explanation on Abe’s “apparent” children later by Keturah,consult commentaries by James Burton Coffman or James MacKnight.

By means of an impotent man, God miraculously brought forth an innumerable people—the Israelite nation. So…

SinceIsaac(as Adam)wassupernatural, then, in a sense, all the Israelite nation wassupernaturaland thusaspecialpeo-ple who brought forth another super-natural person—Jesus. Coincidentally… Just as the miracle baby, Isaac, brought Israel into God’s favor, so the miracle baby, Jesus, removed them from God’s favor, replacing them with the melting pot nation of spiritual Israel. So…

The strength of faith in the case of Abraham was that there was simple confidence in God in the fulfillment of a promise where all human probabilities were against it.

Hebrews 11:13  These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This means these men not only lived by or in faith, but they also died in it! These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This actually refers to the things pro-mised. And what were those things? These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

1.Numerous descendants for Abraham(Gen. 13:16,15:3-5,17:2-4,&22:16). 2.God would be God to him and his descendants(Gen. 17:1-8). 3.An everlasting inheritance to them(Gen. 12:7, 13:15,15:18-21,&17:8). And… 4.All nations would be blessed through them(Gen. 12:3&22:18). Further… We must remember that there weretwo sides to all these promises:a physical fulfillment and a spiritual fulfillment—a type and an antitype.

This obviously in-cludes both the phy-sical and the spiritu-al promises fulfilled, and Jesus referred to one of the spiritu-al ones that they saw when He said, YourfatherAbraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was glad (John 8:56). These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

This is from a term which can be trans-lated saluted or em-braced,soit must beconstrued according to its context; here the word saluted is likely better due to the clause having seen them afaroff because embracedcalls for closeness, not distance (cf. ASV, RSV, Young’s, et. al.). These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Like the clause hav-ing seen them afar off, this clause liter-ally reads, having confessed…. So this sentence might be better understood today if this last clause were placed first. If so, here’s how it would read with our other com-ments included: These all died in faith, not having received the pro-mises, but having seen them afar off [were assured of them], embraced them, and confes-sedthattheywere strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

Having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, these men, having not received the things promised, died in expectationof them; but, having seen them at a distance [by the eye of faith],they saluted them. Thismakesmethinkofsailorsonaship searchingforanislandthatthey’recon-vinced exists, but, because they’re tor-pedoed, they can only salute it as they sinkwithineye-shot.Soaswithverse11, this verse teaches that true trust does not require God to meetour time-tables!

Hebrews 11:14  For those who say such things de-clare plainly that they seek a home-land.

There’s very little difference between strangers and pil-grims(v.13):strang-ers are foreigners, while pilgrims are thosewhodon’thave citizenship where they live; Abraham said to the Hittites, I am a foreigner and a visitor among you (Gen. 23:4a). Why? For those who say such things [i.e. call themselves strangers and pilgrims] declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

Because he was looking for the city … whose architect and builder is God (v. 10). (Even as the first generation of Christians, Abraham realized that his citizenship was in Heaven, not on Earth [Php. 3:20].) For those who say such things [i.e. call themselves strangers and pilgrims] declare plainly that they seek a homeland.

People like Abraham look (or, in his case, wait)forahomeland, a place where they have citizenship and thus rights as citi-zens. Incidentally… The Greek term for a homeland (patris) can be rendered as the fatherland or even as the father’s country. For those who say such things de-clare plainly that they seek a home-land.

Hebrews 11:15  And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had [an] opportunity to return.

Besides the fact that their faith was strong enough so as to give them the determination to live as nomads-in-waiting for a country that they’d never see, it also gave them the determina-tion to remain as nomads-for-life in a land not their own when they could’ve easily returned home.

It’s as if their faith had them so excited about the promises of God that they didn’t even consider turning back and losing their favor with God;Abe,in fact, charged his steward Eliezer to swear that he’d never let Isaac go back to Abe’s native land (Gen. 24:1-9).

Surely we canseehow this corresponds to Paul’s purpose for his audience here! Although at first glance this verse may seem to be somewhat unimportant in the schemeof thechapter,it’slikely the most significant verse so far!

The point is, they (whether Abe’s clan or these Hebrews) weren’t being forced to follow God’s desires for them; if they wanted to turn back and were willing to bear the results, they were certainly free to do so. But that’s just it: there would be severe consequences!

Hebrews 11:16  But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

It’s believed by some that this word is here used logically, not temporally; i.e., they believe that Paul was using it in the form of argu-mentation, not of time. However…  But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

I have no problem believing that Abe’s family was still alive and in his care in Paradise at this time (cf. Luke 20:27-38 & 16:19-31); so since the fullness of the kingdom was on the verge of arriving, I see no reasonwhynowcan’t be taken normally. Anyway… But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

They were desiring a better … country, a place better than Chaldea and even better than Canaan, better because it would be of a heav-enly nature or from Heaven (cf. 2 Tim. 4: 18, Heb. 12:22, & Rev. 21:2 & 10, perhaps even 1 Cor. 15:44-49, the man &/or the body equaling the kingdom). But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

This clause refers to the idea that God doesn’t mind being called things like The God of Abraham or The God of Isaac or The God of Jacob or The God of ____, provided they have the kind of obedient faith that Paul had been discussing. But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

This clause is pro-phetic in tone. Pro-phecy is frequently spoken as having been accomplished when, in earthly time, it hasn’t been; e.g., in a prophecy about Jesus, God said, Out of Egypt I called My Son (Hos. 11:1). But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

Whyisprophecyoft-eninthepast tense? Because if God says it will occur, it will occur! So to empha-size that, it’s spoken of as if it is done! This form of speak-ing or prophesying is often called the already-but-not-yet principle. But now they de-sire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God isn’t ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

A Study Of The Apostle Paul’s Letter To The Hebrews